The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

BLACK

Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using a 70-300mm zoom lens set at 145mm. 1/500s at f4.8 ISO 1400. This shot was taken in the early evening (6pm) giving a good light reflection on the dogs coat. The focus point was locked to the dogs eyes and f4.8 used to give a shallow depth of field which was still wide enough to allow a sharp image on the whole of the dogs face. The slight reduction in focus on the dogs ears while maintaining focus on the muzzle softens the look and adds to the doleful expression.

WHITE

Taken using a Fuji 500exr point and shoot camera f3.5 at 1/125 speed. This shot was taken just after a rainstorm using a pocket camera while out for a walk. The focus point is a single seed head within the foreground leaving the rest of the heal in soft focus. The weight on the raindrops and the clumping effect on the normally light seeds gives an appearance of wet feathers. The contract between the round raindrops and the straight seed stems gives an appearance of an explosion from the centre of the image to the periphery.

STRAIGHT

Taken on a Fuji F500 point and shoot camera f4.8 1/60s. Modified in Picasa editing programme (google) to increase shadows as taken after a rainstorm and the surface water caused the camera to overexpose. The increased shadow on the edges of the channels deepens them and the effect is to give a slightly metallic look. Getting down close to the floor has filled the foreground with the drain channel creating a striking perspective effect.

CURVED

Taken on a Fuji F500 1/125s at f3.5. The curves of the graffiti mimic the curve of the pathway and wall giving a stark and slightly clinical reflection of an urban landscape

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

LARGE

Taken on a Fuji F500, 1/30s at f3.5. The focus point and aperture lock were set on the tree trunk and the camera moves so the rising sun was close to the horizontal centre of the image. The diagonal of the branches is mimics by the diagonal slant of the leaves from top left vertical 1/3rd to bottom right vertical 1/3rd.

SMALL

Taken using a Nikon D3100 DSLR using an 18-105 lens set to 105mm. 1/50s at f16 using an ISO of 3200. This was an early morning shop with a fairly slow shutter speed, handheld using a vibration reduction lens (VRII). A wider depth of field of f16 was chosen to maintain focus on the seedling and the grass behind. There is a striking contrast between the round edge of the oak leaves and the sharp linear grass. The focus is slightly soft and may have been improved using a tripod which was not available at the time.

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

STILL

Taken on a Fuji HS20 bridge camera 1/250s at f2.8. The ISO was set on auto and has defaulted to 160 and the aperture at f2.8 has given a narrow depth of field with the focus point on the wall of the canal within the upper 1/3 rd of the picture. The aim was to get the water reflection with minimal camera movement, but choosing a manual ISO of 800 would have enable the use of a smaller aperture and wider depth of field. Taken with a DSLR (APS-C sensor) rather than a bridge camera (1/2” sensor) would has reduced noise enabling an even higher ISO of perhaps 1200-3200 for use of f16. However, the current image give a feeling of stillness emphasised by the unmoving water and tree reflections.

MOVING

Taken on a Nikon D3100 with 18-105 zoom set at 28mm. ISO 400 f11 and shutter 1/16s. No tripod was available so the camera was held steady by balancing the hands on a metal fence out of shot. The slow shutter speed has given a soft water effect and the image has been cropped tight to emphasise the water and reduce the amount of stone in the picture. A square crop was chosen to emphasise the block like contour of the mill pond stone.

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

MANY

Taken on Nikon D3100 set at f22 1/60s ISO 1600 used to allow large aperture for depth of field while maintaining shutter speed still suitable for hand held. Camera propped using elbow on knee in a crouched position. Front 2/3rds of image are in sharp focus with rear 1/3rd slightly softer. The low position of the camera makes the flowers more visible.

FEW

Taken on Nikon D3100 with 105mm lens at f5.6 1/320s using ISO 1600. Clear focus of central image and seed head with slight softening to outer two seed heads. Good shallow depth of field gives excellent Bokeh effect.

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

HARD

Nikon D3100 40mm, 1/100s handheld at f18 ISO 400. Clear focus throughout shot. Relatively colourless appearance may leant itself to black and white production.

SOFT

Nikon D3100 using 105mm, 1/125s at f14 ISO 200. Tripod used and image of rose cropped close to give modern art appearance

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

POINTED

Nikon D3100 85mm, f8 at 1/30 th using ISO 800. Nice bokeh effect without losing detail of flower head and top leaves that a wider aperture may have done. Top leaves fade as they descend step giving the feeling of height plunging downwards. Vibrant green background of grass draws out purple of developing flowers. I considered cropping the image to remove some of the grass to the left, but decided that the length of the image emphasised the length of the long slender leaves.

BLUNT

Nikon D3100 using 42mm, f8, at 1/250s ISO 800. Cropped vertically and horizontally by 50%. Taken late afternoon (4pm) below trees, creating slight shallow to give flower bells a more rounded appearance than stark midday light.

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

DIAGONAL

Fuji F500 f3.5 1/125th using ISO 200. I chose this viewpoint to demonstrate the length of the fallen tree trunk. A wide shot resulted in the trunk appearing too narrow. The shadow within the upper crack creates depth and the light of the lower crack and split bark seems to be pointing to the bend of the trunk.

ROUNDED

Fuji HS20 126mm (706m 35mm equivalent) f5.6, 1/250 th ISO 640 handheld. This was a close shot using a superzoom bridge camera with slight cropping only. The focus point was set to the eye and although the focus of the eye and head feathers is adequate, the long zoom and smaller 1/2in sensor of the camera means that the clarity of the image is at the cameras limit. Taken on a DSLR the image would have been clearer but this length of lens was not available. Taken using a 70-300mm and cropped the image would probably still have been clearer using the APS-C sensor of the DSLR compared to the smaller 1/2 ins of the bridge.

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

SINGLE IMAGE

Taken using a Fuji HS20 bridge camera using 5.8mm (33mm as 35mm equivalent), f3.2, 1/60 th using ISO 100. I chose a relatively narrow depth of field using the equivalent of a standard 50mm (35mm on DX) lens hand held but propped by using my elbow on my knee with foot up on the tree trunk. The portrait orientation was chosen to emphasise the length of the trunk which I tried to fill the frame with in the foreground. The focus lock was placed on the knot in the lower 1/3rd of the trunk closest to the camera. The contract between the continuous linear trunk with the intermittent and pointed leaves is accentuated by the obvious colour difference. The moss of the trunk in the upper part of the picture adds to the feeling that the trunk is fading into the distance. I also experimented with holding the camera rotated at 45° so the trunk ran as a diagonal from corner to corner of the image, but the feeling of length was lessened so I chose this image instead.

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1

• Learning log located at http://chrisnorrisoca.blogspot.co.uk/

• Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/66643570@N05/

• Student has a writing tremor (OCA informed of disability upon registration) so unable

to keep a hard copy sketchbook

The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 1